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The Free Syrian Army had Bashar Assad’s military headquarters in their mortar sights this week. Yet even as rebel fighters struck at the heart of the regime their fractious political leadership was letting them down.

After two years of fighting, Syria’s rebels are closing in on President Bashar Assad’s stronghold, raking the very heart of Damascus with mortar attacks in recent days and panicking its residents. The presidential palace is less than a mile away from Umayyad Square, where the rounds fell.

While Assad’s troops have so far prevented the rebels from overrunning the capital, people take this as a warning that Damascus may yet face the grisly urban warfare that has shattered other Syrian cities, claimed 72,000 lives, driven a million of the country’s 21 million people from their homes and left millions relying on aid. For a time at least, elements of the Free Syrian Army had Assad’s military headquarters squarely in their sights, along with the state TV broadcaster and other targets. Yet even as the rebel fighters strike at the heart of the regime their fractious political leaders are letting them down.

Over the weekend chaos erupted within the Syrian National Coalition, the political umbrella group recognized by the United States and other allies and by the Arab League — though not by the Canadian government — as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Council President Mouaz al-Khatib, a moderate, abruptly resigned his post after the coalition weakened his authority by naming Ghassan Hitto to serve as prime minister and set up a government in rebel-held areas. Al-Khatib also complained about the limited military support that the U.S. and others are giving the rebels. As some in the coalition pleaded with al-Khatib to reconsider, Gen. Salim Idris, who heads the military wing, also refused to recognize Hitto, saying he lacks wide popular backing. Others see him as a pawn of the Muslim Brotherhood and Gulf interests. Al-Khatib is willing to talk to the regime; Hitto is opposed.

This infighting is a betrayal of the Syrian people’s hopes and a gift to the Assad regime as Washington tries to put across the message that the future looks brighter and the regime’s days are numbered.

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“Something has been broken in Syria, and it’s not going to be put back together perfectly immediately — even after Assad leaves,” President Barack Obama said in Jordan on his Mideast tour last week. “But we can begin the process of moving it in a better direction, and having a cohesive opposition is critical to that.”

At the moment that better direction is hard to discern. This uproar couldn’t have come at a worse time. The coalition is formally taking over Syria’s vacant Arab League seat at a conference this week in Doha, Qatar. It is struggling to assert its moral authority over the myriad groups within Syria that are battling the regime. And Arab states such as Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, working with the U.S. and Turkey, are reportedly stepping up secret shipments of weapons and equipment to the rebels.

The sudden outbreak of squabbling will do nothing to bolster the shaky coalition’s image as a credible political force, ready to step in and establish order once the regime falls. It undermines the Free Syrian Army’s efforts to obtain a regular flow of weapons and to exert command and control over the many rebel fighter groups. It undercuts efforts to persuade Assad’s cronies to defect. And it emboldens Islamist rebel groups, including the al-Qaeda-associated Nusra Front, to continue to wage their own wars.

All this plays into Assad’s hands, nurturing the regime’s hope that it can outlast the much-divided rebels. It also fans fears that Syria may become a failed state awash with weapons once the regime falls, and a haven for extremists. That catastrophic scenario is not inevitable. Not if the Syrian opposition can set up a credible government and fill a national leadership void that grows by the day. But first, the rebel leaders have to get past their differences, and get their act together.

In Syria, the drive against tyranny has all but shattered a nation. Somebody has to be prepared to put the pieces together again.

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